Acts 21:27-29 27When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 28crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place, and furthermore, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” 29For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
Paul carried out the plan of the elders by taking the four brothers to the temple as part of completing their vow. The strategy was to prove to any skeptical Jews that Paul had not forsaken his Judaism but was conforming to the customs of the people. The period of purification lasted a whole week. By that point, word was spreading about who this Paul was. Jews from Asia, who had heard Paul or even had dealings with him, perhaps from his three years in Ephesus, spotted him in the temple. His troubles with legalistic Judaizers followed him all the way to Jerusalem. Likely, the native Jews of Jerusalem did not recognize him at first in the crowd. Evidently, he was infamous already among the Jews of Jerusalem because the Asian Jews stirred up the crowd about him. A crowd would typically not turn into a mob unless there was a clear cause, and in this case, the so-called “heretic Jew” named Paul was right there in front of them, desecrating their temple.
The Asian Jews accused Paul of several actions related to his teaching. They exagerated their accusation by adding everyone everywhere, but these words did show the extensive influence Paul’s ministry had in only a few years. God has blessed his efforts as well as all who were his partners and became believers. The gospel was making a big impact, and much of this was through the efforts of Paul.
First, the assusers thought he was teaching against the Jewish people, implying the narrow and “proper” perspective of these Jews about certain traditions and practices, such as circumcision. His association with Gentiles bothered them because they thought Jews should only have fellowship with other Jews, the “circumcised.” To be part of God’s people meant being circumcised. These Jews wanted to keep the wall of separation, which Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:14, that was removed through Jesus Christ.
Second, their accusations were wrong because they misinterpreted what Paul said about the “law,” at least as they understood it from their legalistic perspective. Paul’s teaching about the law can be difficult to understand until one approaches it from the Old Testament perspective of covenant and how Jesus brought a new covenant not based on obedience to the law (which Israel never kept anyway under the old covenants) but on grace (which was the intent of the old covenants but was misunderstood by Israel). These Jews were practicing the very same things Paul wrote about in his letter to the Galatians.
Third, they thought Paul was desecrating the temple and defiling it by bringing Gentiles, such as Trophimus the Ephesian, into it. Once again, their narrow interpretation of God’s purposes is evident. They did not know God’s plan of salvation for the whole world, and that the temple was to be a special place for all people to come and worship. They allowed no place for Gentiles to come to believe and worship the one true God. Their hearts had hardened against the message of salvation Paul preached.